Announcements

Hi all!
Now that Upgrade 4 is out and about in large quantities we have now discovered a few SNAFUs that happen out in the scary, real world that is home computing. Fortunately the rate of problems is extremely small and so far most are easily worked around. We've identified a few issues that have similar causes which we have clear instructions for work arounds here they are:
1. CMRT Windows customers need to re-license their original key. This is a result of improvements to the licensing system which CMBN, CMBS, and CMFB are already using. To do this launch CMRT with the Upgrade and the first time enter your Engine 4 key. Exit and then use the "Activate New Products" shortcut in your CMRT folder, then enter your Engine 3 license key. That should do the trick.
2. CMRT and CMBN MacOS customers have a similar situation as #2, however the "Activate New Products" is inside the Documents folder in their respective CM folders. For CMBN you have to go through the process described above for each of your license keys. There is no special order to follow.
3. For CMBS and CMFB customers, you need to use the Activate New Products shortcut and enter your Upgrade 4 key. If you launch the game and see a screen that says "LICENSE FAILURE: Base Game 4.0 is required." that is an indication you haven't yet gone through that procedure. Provided you had a properly functioning copy before installing the Upgrade, that should be all you need to do. If in the future you have to install from scratch on a new system you'll need to do the same procedure for both your original license key and your Upgrade 4.0 key.
4. There's always a weird one and here it is. A few Windows users are not getting "Activate New Products" shortcuts created during installation. Apparently anti-virus software is preventing the installer from doing its job. This might not be a problem right now, but it will prove to be an issue at some point in the future. The solution is to create your own shortcut using the following steps:
Disable your anti-virus software before you do anything. Go to your Desktop, right click on the Desktop itself, select NEW->SHORTCUT, use BROWSE to locate the CM EXE that you are trying to fix. The location is then written out. After it type in a single space and then paste this:

-showui

Click NEXT and give your new Shortcut a name (doesn't matter what). Confirm that and you're done. Double click on the new Shortcut and you should be prompted to license whatever it is you need to license.
At this time we have not identified any issues that have not been worked around. Let's hope it stays that way
Steve

We've reorganized our Combat Mission Forums to reflect the fact that most of you are now running Engine 4 and that means you're all using the same basic code. Because of that, there's no good reason to have the discussion about Combat Mission spread out over 5 separate sets of Forums. There is now one General Discussion area with Tech Support and Scenario/Mod Tips sub forums. The Family specific Tech Support Forums have been moved to a new CM2 Archives area and frozen in place.
You might also notice we dropped the "x" from distinguishing between the first generation of CM games and the second. The "x" was reluctantly adopted back in 2005 or so because at the time we had the original three CM games on European store shelves entitled CM1, CM2, and CM3 (CMBO, CMBB, and CMAK). We didn't want to cause confusion so we added the "x". Time has moved on and we have to, so the "x" is now gone from our public vocabulary as it has been from our private vocabulary for quite a while already. Side note, Charles *NEVER* used the "x" so now we're all speaking the same language as him. Which is important since he is the one programming them

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Post any questions you may have on the ladder below and I will try and resolve as soon as possible. Remember - we play because we enjoy playing. So let's enjoy the challenge and spend more time playing, less time questioning!

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Yep - results can be posted in this current thread too. To be honest I'm not bothered about hitting my mailbox - I get upwards of 40 work emails per day anyway, so one or two more wont make much of a difference!

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Allies need to have a successful campaign in Burma. From there Chungking can be retaken. Either that, or a big Red Army offensive into mainland China. It is all about balance across the 7 years of conflict...

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Given weather and the terrain in Burma/Southwest China, an offensive from India to Chungking would be a Very difficult undertaking, and Japs could delay such an operation very easily and with minimal forces.

Did YOU ever conduct such an operation, and if yes, was it successful?

For the Soviets going down through China to Chungking, okay, but then the capture of the four AXis capitals would be easier indeed.

My point is:

A 1 point victory for Allies seems harder to achieve than a 2 point victory, because of just Chungking.

Thats a bit odd.

1 point victory would mainly be a defensive victory with only taking back or hold respectively Paris, Moscow, Manila , Delhi and Canberra.

Retaking Chungking would imply holding on to Delhi anyway.

What about changing the condition to: Canberra OR Manila OR Chungking.

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That's an interesting idea. Yes - I have seen Chungking under assault from the allies. The best way of achieving it is preserving some of the Chinese army in the hills west of Chungking and then sending Brit forces through Thailand. The Jap player can certainly deploy to halt this, but in so doing probably opens the door in Manchuria. So it is all about coordination and planning. If the USN also attacks at the same time through Indonesia then the Jap air force is stretched in all directions.

I am not convinced that this is harder than taking the 4 capitals. To commit properly to taking out Berlin is a major undertaking and to do it while also preparing to assault Tokyo and Seoul will take some considerable skill. I think that a plan that only takes the allies as far as Paris in the West but incorporates a hit on Chungking as well as Manila in the Pacific feels more possible to me. But I will mull it over tonight. We have games getting underway, so if I am going to make a change I will do it in the next 24 hours.

Whatever the decision players will have equal numbers of games as both allies and axis, so the playing field is level and fair.

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You will not have a great advance for Poland on first turn cause you need to take all units for do this. I tend to finish Poland on turn 3 or 4 cause you could easily finish the Low Countries in 1939 too then.

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Poland can indeed fall on turn 1 - and it doesnt require all units. My opponent did it to me in the tourney - a "saved" turn? Armour was still able to advance west on that first turn.

I am very much against using a saved turn like that. My preference if it were possible would be for every game to start by TCP therefore making a saved turn 1 impossible. Any turn 1 received with a date of over a day old should be returned to sender with my approval. A cunning way to prevent your opponent from seeing the date of a file is to send it unzipped. If the file is zipped then its original file attributes are retained and you can see the date that the game was created. If it is not zipped then sending it by email makes it very hard to find out the creation date - at least I cant do it and I am moderately capable. So insist that the turn be zipped so that you can check its creation date. However even that wont stop a player from starting up a game 10 times over looking for the best turn 1. Not every player is honourable.

Guess what format my tourney save game 1 arrived in... Unzipped.

It is worth being aware of just how potent a saved turn 1 leading to a good destruction of Poland can be. My tourney opponent who took out Poland in 1 turn then took out France in March 1940 because very good weather followed the end of Poland in one hit - and games like this leads to an easy axis position in the Med throughout 1940 and really puts the allies in trouble.

So my wish would be that all players start fresh.

In fact my REAL wish would be that somehow Hubert made the 1 turn destruction of Poland impossible - but that's not my call.

For those aware of the Japanese fast move in behind Chengchow - that will be removed in the next patch. Also done to me in the tourney and it wrecks the Chinese position instantly and very much not part of the game as intended.

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Apparently I have been fortunate because to the best of my knowledge I have not experienced saved file. However I totally agree that saved file in not in the spirit of fun, competitive and honorable play. Speaking of honorable, I believe I am an honorable player but I was aware of Chengchow gambit and did use in this ladder. Unlike saved files I thought gambit was a creative move within 1.02. However if the ladder administrator wishes that gambit not be used I request a statement to all participants and I would be happy to offer my opponent a restart.

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Clause - no problem on the Chengchow gambit: its possible in the game at present. However I was just saying that I think it was not supposed to be possible, hence why it will be removed in the next patch. I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not spotting that I could have played the move myself!

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Something needs changed altogether in Japan/China. One thing the game does not take into consideration enough with Japan is their logistics were a mess and not really able to go to much into the mountains. Not too mention that aircraft carrier can decimate the Chinese early on. Perhaps a trade off of sort would be less carriers available in the early stage with perhaps an extra bomber to compensate. Something just to mention is Japan can be devastating to the Allied cause if played right, but can not really win the war on its own.

Al fyi I did not and have never used saved games. However I will admit to 2 tries before sending to you to open up. 1st/2nd try both took Poland and my odds of doing it are above 50% when going for it 1st turn. Reason I restarted was I messed up the Japan opening the 1st time being my 1st go at the 1st turn enclosure. Reality as Amona states it is not 100% needed to take Poland 1st turn if the axis use their units better on turn

I also believe their is the right combination to take Poland in 2 turns and start Low Countries on turn 3 before wheeling all troops around to help with France

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My earlier post was too aggressive - I apologise for making references to our game in a negative way. No offence intended. The Chengchow move is possible so within the game. Knocking out Poland frequently does not happen on turn 1... but it is unrealistic to expect players to go with their very first attempt at turn 1 if it is a disaster - so in that respect my thoughts are a waste of effort. TCP turn 1s would be great - but also unrealistic with time zone issues.

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No offense taken:). Early moves can be critical and should not be allowed at times you are correct and should be changed. Does not help you so far in our games is the weather but time will tell with that and the games.

You already made up some ground in your move through the mountains south of Paotow as I was content with the rest of my China defense until then.